Armenian PM states he will lead freedom of Armenian Apostolic Church
(MENAFN) Armenian Prime Minister Nikol Pashinyan declared on Tuesday that he would personally lead what he described as the “liberation” of the Armenian Apostolic Church (AAC), as tensions between the government and church leadership continue to escalate.
Posting on Facebook, Pashinyan claimed that the church's governing structure has fallen under the influence of what he called an “anti-Christ, anti-state” faction, asserting that it "must be liberated."
“I will lead that liberation,” he said, directly accusing several high-ranking clerics — including Catholicos Garegin II, the head of the AAC, and Archbishop Bagrat Galstanyan, a leading critic who organized mass protests in 2024 demanding Pashinyan’s resignation — of having “a complete lack of connection and relationship … with Jesus Christ and His teachings.”
The controversy intensified after the Armenian Investigative Committee announced on June 25 that it had uncovered an alleged plot to overthrow the government, implicating Galstanyan and others in an attempted coup. Authorities detained Galstanyan along with 14 other individuals that same day. Two days later, Archbishop Mikael Ajapakhyan, head of the Shirak Diocese, was also taken into custody.
The Armenian Apostolic Church condemned Ajapakhyan’s arrest and urged the country’s judiciary and government officials to secure his release.
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